Gren’s gaze shifted to the side towards the holy dragon that was digging a hole upwards through the palace’s ceiling. “What are you doing, Kondra?”

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Kondra asked, her paws stopping as she lowered her head to look at Gren. “There’s simply not enough moonlight for all of us. Are you trying to starve my poor daughter and grandchildren?”

“Rather than tearing part of my house down, you could go outside and bathe in the moonlight out there,” Gren said. She climbed to her feet. “Actually, no, I insist you go outside. Don’t you think you’ve overstayed your welcome?”

Kondra huffed and dropped to all fours, her legs cracking the bits of rock on the ground that she had torn out of the ceiling. “Cursed dragons are always so inhospitable,” she said and clicked her tongue, causing Gren’s expression to darken. “You wouldn’t see any holy dragon kicking me out of their roost simply because I was starving and trying to feed myself. I’m not leaving until Lulu is completely cured of whatever toxin she’s suffering from. How could I leave my child unsupervised?”

Gren raised an eyebrow. “If you and your mate are watching Lulu here, who’s watching your children at home? I remember you had other ones, no? Were they twins?”

Kondra froze. Her eyes widened, and she blinked twice. Even though the words came from a cursed dragon, the other party still brought up a good point. Who was watching over her children at home!? What if Leo or Luke encountered trouble? What if they were throwing a party and invited that wench from the ocean to their home!?

Gren blinked as Kondra charged out of the room and into the living room. The holy dragon thumped her mate with her tail, causing him to flinch and turn his head away from the boardgame he was playing with Kal. “What’s the matter, honey?” Kondra’s mate asked and clutched the spot that had been attacked.

“Watch over Lulu,” Kondra said. “I’m going back to check on Leo and Luke. Who knows what kind of trouble they’ve gotten into while we were away?”

Kondra’s mate nodded. “That’s not a bad idea,” he said. “Neither of them can block a meteor yet. If any intrepid adventurer decided to take advantage of our absence to attack them, we might not even be able to find their corpses.”

Kondra glared at her mate. “Don’t say such inauspicious things! Besides, nowadays, there aren’t many adventurers looking to hunt dragons.”

Kondra’s mate cleared his throat. “Alright,” he said and nodded. “You’re absolutely right. Nowadays, adventurers care more about the ecosystem and don’t hunt as many dragons. However, just in case, you should go check on the two boys. I’ll make sure Lulu stays safe and sound, and the next time you see her, she’ll no longer be half-green.”

Kondra nodded. “That’s more like it,” she said and nuzzled her cheek against her mate’s. Then, she half-lumbered, half-galloped out of the living room, letting the two grandpas continue their boardgame.

***

Mary watched with her arms crossed as the group of mercenaries disassembled one of the ballistae. Despite the fact the robed woman was afraid of getting ambushed by a dragon during the process of dismantling the dragon-hunting tools, the mercenaries were moving really slow. The components were heavy, and if something dropped on their foot, a toe would probably be lost. Mary furrowed her brow upon seeing three men struggle to rack a ballista bolt. “Do you need any help?”

“No!” the men said at the same time, causing Mary to raise an eyebrow. “Please, there’s no need to trouble yourself to help us. We were hired to do this. If you were to lift a finger, wouldn’t that mean we’re failing as mercenaries?”

Mary scratched her chin. “Alright,” she said. “If you insist.”

After Mary went to watch over a different group of mercenaries, the three men exhaled in relief. The last time they had accepted Mary’s offer of help, a ballista had nearly been lost. There was still a dent in the shape of her hand along its frame. If she had grabbed one of the siege weapon’s more delicate parts, then the whole weapon would’ve been destroyed, and their mercenary group would be held liable for its repairs. If they could afford to fix such a fancy contraption, would they be working as mercenaries?

“D-dragon!”

The three men whirled their heads to the side. A silver dragon’s head poked out of the entrance that the ballistae had all been pointing at. Unfortunately, only two ballistae were still capable of firing, but one of the ballistae’s bolts had already been unloaded. The dragon blinked at the group of humans and froze, its body halfway out of the tunnel in the ground. Its silver head swiveled around, eyeing its surroundings. “What do you humans think you’re doing?”

“Uh….”

The robed woman was the first one to respond. “O great holy dragon,” she said and dropped to her knees. “We heard a cursed dragon had destroyed the southern continent and made it inhospitable. We were planning on finding the source of destruction to see if we could resolve the problem to create new homes for our people.”

Kondra narrowed her eyes at the robed woman. “The curse has been resolved,” she said. “The land is no longer contaminated, and it’s fit to house new life.”

“Really?” the robed woman asked. “That’s great! On the behalf of all humans, I’d like to thank you for your contribution to the world. Only a brave and wise dragon such as yourself could save a doomed continent.”

Kondra stroked her chin and nodded. She glanced at the ballista which still had a bolt loaded on it. It was pointed right at her. She leaned over and brushed aside the trembling humans surrounding the machine before tapping the tip of the ballista bolt with her toe. A clear white line was left on her scale, and she raised an eyebrow. “Were you planning on hunting a dragon?”

Sweat dripped from the robed woman’s face onto the ground. “N-no.”

“Is that so?” Kondra mumbled, her eyes narrowing upon seeing the mercenaries holding onto the parts of the other ballistae. “How fishy.”